No evidence of foot and mouth, but vets keep checking

MAF's Murray Sherwin said yesterday's visit was to thank staff, farmers and the Waiheke community. Picture / Dean Purcell

No evidence of foot-and-mouth disease has been detected among the 12,500 susceptible livestock on Waiheke Island and veterinarians are now relying on visual inspections rather than temperature checks.

But while the atmosphere among islanders has relaxed since news that the potentially disastrous disease had been released almost a week ago, officials are continuing to take the threat seriously.

Yesterday, the Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Murray Sherwin, and the head of Biosecurity New Zealand, Barry O'Neill, visited Waiheke to thank staff and farmers for an "outstanding" job that will continue for another week.

The ministry said the disease had not been found anywhere in the country, including at a second location where a letter to the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday threatened a further release.

The police, backed up by Australian police threat assessment experts, believe the letter poses a low level of threat, reinforcing a belief by the ministry that it is a hoax.

Nevertheless, a helicopter flew over Waiheke during the weekend double-checking stock numbers as well as feral animals and "large hairy lawn-mowers" to make sure all animals had been accounted for.

Mr Sherwin said the purpose of yesterday's visit was to thank staff, farmers and the island community.

"This has been a huge inconvenience and an enormous exercise," he said.

Farmers had coped remarkably well in the face of regular musters upsetting grazing rotations.

Vet Phillip Brown expects to go home to Te Awamutu today after spending nearly a week testing the temperatures of animals on the 800ha Waiheke Station.

"We're still checking everything every 48 hours though we have geared it down a little bit ... What we are doing now is a straight visual exam of everything, which saves the farmer a lot of mustering."

Chairman of the Waiheke Community Board, Ray Ericson, said he was waiting for things to get back to normal.

He said yesterday's visitors were grateful, gracious and aware of the pressure that the potential outbreak had put on people.

Mr Ericson said one farmer who had made the statement: "It's not just us. It's the whole of New Zealand" was both realistic and patriotic.

"He's the one getting pushed around ... I really admired him for that."